Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 vif, vpr, and vpu mutants can produce persistently infected cells.

A series of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) mutants in vif, vpr, vpu, and nef were constructed from an infectious plasmid (pNL 432) containing the full-length HIV-1 DNA by frameshift mutations. The capacities for replication and cell killing of these mutant viruses were examined in a clonal cell line (M 10) isolated from HTLV-I-transformed MT-4 cells. In all cases, the mutant viruses replicated, expressed HIV-1 antigens, and induced drastic cytopathic effects. However, some M 10 cells survived infection with vif, vpr, and vpu mutant viruses and became persistently HIV-1-infected, whereas no cells survived infection with the nef mutant as well as the wild-type virus. The HIV-1 particles produced from the surviving cells after infection with the vif, vpr, or vpu mutant viruses were fully replicative in M 10 cells without apparent cytopathic effects.